From Darkness Won book cover
I haven’t been able to post on The Compass Rose Queen for a long time. I’m student teaching in middle school math and social studies right now. It’s a blast, but even more stressful than my graduate school classes!
However, I just have to write today. The final installment in my friend Jill’s Blood of Kings trilogy was just released yesterday. I ordered my copy of From Darkness Won from the Marcher Lord Press website this morning. It’ll take all my willpower to keep from reading it until my work sample is done a month from now. I have to find out what happens to Achan and Vrell!
So in honor of the occasion, it’s time to write about Vrell’s journey. Here at The Compass Rose Queen, we honor the heroic journeys of women, both historical and fictional. And Vrell is one of my current favorite literary heroines. The Blood of Kings trilogy is an inspirational medieval fantasy series. For an interactive map of the kingdom Vrell journeys through, see www.jillwilliamson.wordpress.com and click on “Explore Er’Rets.”
In the first book, By Darkness Hid, we discover that Vrell Sparrow is really Lady Averella Amal, daughter of the Duchess of Carmine. Disguising herself as a stray boy, she goes to work for a noble family in Walden’s Watch to avoid marriage to a selfish prince. She assumed the prince would give up and she could marry Bran Rennan, a knight in Carmine. The ruse worked for a while. But then her ability to bloodvoice was discovered by Master Macoun Hadar, and he sends two escorts to bring her to the royal city of Manahaim to apprentice for him.
The journey to Manahaim was miserable for Vrell, who had to survive danger and betrayal while keeping her gender and identity secret. Along the way, she encounters vicious reekats and gentle giants. Her faith in Arman and the loyalty and kindness of one of her escorts keeps her going. Without giving too much away (because you all need to read the books!), near Manahaim she meets Achan Cham and joins him on his mission, along with some knights and other warriors.
In To Darkness Fled, Achan and Vrell and their companions travel north to Ice Island to free more knights loyal to the royal family. This journey proves even more treacherous than her first one. The companions are under frequent attack. Even when they are safe inside cities and fortresses, political intrigue threatens them. Achan and Vrell form an odd friendship, with Achan thinking Vrell is an annoying boy who runs away every time the companions are attacked. Meanwhile, Vrell begins to have feelings for Achan, despite her commitment to Bran.
Achan, so far, lacks the same commitment to Arman as Vrell has. And throughout their journey, she saw him have feelings for more than one woman. So when Vrell has the chance to secure Achan’s love, she runs from it. She discovers that the journey her heart must make is much more difficult than the one she has made in the Kingdom of Er’Rets. But she knows she must stay true to her standards. Even if it means she can’t be true to her heart.
To discover the journeys of Achan and Vrell, be sure to read all three books of the Blood of Kings trilogy. I can’t wait to find out what happens to them in book 3!
Since I wrote at length about a fictional heroine, I’ll keep my historical heroine highlight short. In teaching my students about the Civil War this past month, I discovered a fascinating historical figure that I’d surprisingly never heard of.
Sojourner Truth was born as the slave Isabella Baumfree in New York, 1797. To escape her cruel master, she ran away with her infant daughter shortly before New York emancipated slaves. Living with and working for an abolitionist family, she went to court to regain custody of her son who had been sold illegally. She took on the name of the family she lived with. She also found a new faith at this time. Then she moved to New York City. Later, she renamed herself “Sojourner Truth,” and joined the abolitionist movement. She also got a book about her experiences published, called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. This book and the public speeches she made helped influence the anti-slavery movement in the North. The second edition of her book had an introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She also spoke for the women’s suffrage movement, with her most famous speech being “Ain’t I a Woman?”
I loved learning about Sojourner Truth as I taught the Civil War. She has the greatest name, for one. And any woman who fights for not only her own rights but also the rights of others commands my respect. Not knowing how to read or write didn’t keep her from getting a book about her life published (she dictated it to a writer). She rubbed elbows with Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe. She’s officially my current favorite historical hero.
Lady Averella Amal (aka Vrell Sparrow) and Sojourner Truth (originally Isabella Baumfree) both ran away from evil. They took on new names and new lives as they served a higher calling. Let us learn from them and live passionately for what we’re called to do as well. Vrell’s story isn’t over yet, and neither is ours.
References
The Compass Rose Queen 
A very interesting post, Jessica! Thanks for talking about Vrell’s journey. And Sojourner Truth was a facinating woman, as well. I’m honored to have my character compared to her. 🙂
Jill